Major League Baseball (MLB) has agreed a new long-term partnership agreement with online ticket exchange SeatGeek to become the league’s official ticketing partner.
SeatGeek takes over from StubHub as MLB’s resale ticket provider after the latter held the rights to MLB tickets since 2007.
Forbes estimates that the new deal between the two parties could be worth up to $100m in revenue-sharing over the course of the five year deal, as SeatGeek prepares to become the new ticket marketplace home of the MLB with the 2023 season set to get underway on 30 March.
MLB Chief Revenue Officer, Noah Garden, commented: “SeatGeek is a data-driven company that is relentlessly focused on improving the fan experience from purchase to post-game.
“We’re eager to tap into SeatGeek’s extensive user base across numerous categories to reach an even wider audience of potential attendees.”
Adding the MLB expands on SeatGeek’s growing portfolio of becoming an official ticket provider to some of the US’ major sports leagues, such as the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL).
SeatGeek has also partnered with sports franchises to give fans of certain teams easier access to tickets. Fans of the Baltimore Ravens (NFL), Real Salt Lake (MLS), and Utah Jazz (NBA) are able to get access to tickets via SeatGeek through pre-existing deals.
MLB’s new agreement with the online ticketing firm will integrate baseball ticket barcodes which will enable fans to resell tickets on SeatGeek’s platform, while also providing analytics to the MLB to allow it to reach new demographics.
“Baseball is the largest spectator sport in the world in terms of total attendance, and the nature of the league’s 162-game season makes it ripe for innovation on the ticket resale side of the business,” said Russ D’Souza, Co-Founder of SeatGeek.
“With MLB, we get a chance to re-imagine what the ticketing experience is like while bringing new fans to the ballpark.”
